Under the contract, Bristow delivers search and rescue helicopter services on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency from bases at Stornoway and Sumburgh.

Operations began from Sumburgh on 1 June 2013 and from Stornoway on 1 July 2013. The contract will continue until 2017 when both bases will transition to the UK SAR contract, also to be operated by Bristow Helicopters.

Two state of the art Sikorsky S-92 helicopters are located at each base, with a radius of action of over 250 nautical miles.

Bristow Helicopters has a long history of providing search and rescue helicopter services in Northern Scotland, having held this contract from 1983 – 2007. In November 2013 we celebrated the 30th anniversary of civilian search and rescue helicopter operations from Sumburgh